Tooth loss is a common oral problem, and cognitive decline is a primary manifestation of neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly. Both conditions affect their daily living abilities and quality of life. Studies have shown that tooth loss may negatively impact cognitive function through physiological mechanisms such as neural pathways and inflammatory factors, and social, psychological and behavioral factors are identified as important modifiable elements for preventing cognitive decline. This review examined literature about tooth loss and cognitive decline in the elderly, and explored the potential pathways of social, psychological and behavioral factors between these two conditions. The findings indicated that tooth loss may increase the risk of cognitive decline through reduced social participation, social isolation and limited social capital, increased chronic stress, depression and negative aging attitudes, as well as altered physical activity patterns, sleep duration and diets. For the elderly with tooth loss, targeted preventive and intervention measures addressing social, psychological and behavioral aspects can be implemented to prevent and delay cognitive decline, thereby improving their quality of life.

AIM:To explore the molecular mechanism of Tiaopi Chengqi decoction (TpCqD) improving hyperthermia and high-protein food-induced hyperphagia mice based on transcriptomics. METHODS:C57 mice were randomly divided into a control group, model group, low-dose TpCqD group, high-dose TpCqD group, and domperidone group. The general condition of the experimental mice was observed and the average food intake was counted, and the rate of gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion was determined for each group of mice. H&E staining was used to observe pathological changes in gastric tissue. PAS staining was used to observe glycogen changes in gastric tissue. Pepsin activity was determined by colorimetry. pH value of gastric contents was measured by acid-base titration. Transcriptome sequencing was used to analyze the differential genes in gastric tissue, a volcano map and a cluster heat map were made for the differential genes, and KEGG was used to analyze the signal pathway enrichment of the differential genes. RT-qPCR verified the differential genes obtained by screening. RESULTS:After treatment with TpCqD, the body weight and average food intake of mice with food accumulation increased (P<0.05), and the intestinal propulsion rate and gastric emptying speed of mice with food accumulation accelerated (P<0.05). TpCqD could protect gastric tissue structure and glycogen degradation, increase pepsin activity (P<0.05), and reduce gastric content pH (P<0.05). Transcriptome results showed that TpCqD could regulate the expression of Acox2 and cilp2, regulate fat digestion and absorption, protein digestion and absorption, and pancreatic secretion signals. RT-qPCR showed that compare with model group, TpCqD up-regulated Acox2 (P<0.05) and down-regulated the mRNA level of cilp2 (P<0.05). CONCLUSION:TpCqD ameliorated digestive dysfunction in mice with high-calorie and high-protein diets leading to food accumulation involving the regulation of the fat and sugar metabolism genes Acox2 and cilp2, and pancreatic secretory signaling.

Objective:To observe the feelings of listening to music and the importance of music in the daily life of post-lingual deaf adults with cochlear implants, and to explore the relevant influencing factors.Methods:This was a cross-sectional survey study. From January 2021 to August 2021,the Music-Related Quality of Life Scale was used to evaluate the music needs and music experiences of 63 post-lingual deaf adults who met the inclusion criteria, including 27 males and 36 females, aged (40.7±12.3) years, at the time of surgery (36.8±13.1) years, and with a preoperative hearing aid ineffective time of (3.9±5.8) years. Indicators analyzed included age, duration of ineffective preoperative hearing aid wear, preoperative music preference, duration of postoperative cochlear implant use, current hearing aid modality, and auditory rehabilitation outcomes. Whether the six factors mentioned above constituted an influence on the subjects′ music listening was investigated using SPSS 25.0 statistical software.Results:All of the observations in the scale were correlated with a single factor. The two sub-dimensions of music experience section were related to the effect of auditory rehabilitation. In the importance section, the effect of auditory rehabilitation was the influential factor of the dimension of "participation importance", and the preoperative enjoyment of music was the relevant influential factor of the dimension of "perceived importance". There was a significant difference between the groups when they were grouped by the above factors ( P value<0.05), while there was no statistically significance between the groups when they were grouped by other factors ( P value>0.05). Conclusions:Post-lingual deaf adults show the need and attempt to listen to music after cochlear implantation. The effectiveness of auditory rehabilitation and the degree of music preference preoperatively are two important factors that influence music listening in implant recipients. Once the level of auditory communication has been restored to a certain degree, it is important to pay more attention to the needs of music for implant recipients and train them in time, especially for those with music preferences preoperatively.

Objective:To investigate the application value of intraoperative motor nerve monitoring in cervical neurogenic tumor surgery.Methods:The efficacy of intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) was analyzed retrospectively in 18 patients, including 6 males and 12 females, aged from 15 to 74 years, treated in Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University from June 2019 to September 2022 who underwent total cystectomy of cervical neurogenic tumors under intraoperative nerve monitoring.Results:All 18 patients had complete tumor removal, including 8 patients with tumors from the vagus nerve and 10 patients with tumors from the brachial plexus nerve. Postoperative nerve functions were normal in patients with tumors from brachial plexus nerve, and incomplete vocal cord paralysis occurred in 2 patients with tumors from vagus vagus nerve. The total incidence of motor nerve injury was 11.1% (2/18). All patients were followed up for 6 to 45 months, with no tumor recurrence.Conclusion:Intraoperative neuromonitoring has significant values in surgery of cervical neurogenic tumors, which is helpful to remove completely the tumors on the basis of protecting the nerve functions to the maximum extent.

The pre-hospitalization service is an important initiative for medical institutions to implement the national reform of the medical security system. In 2018, Zhejiang province proposed the " most run once reform", requiring the establishment of an admission preparation center to carry out pre-hospitalization services. In June 2021, a certain maternal and child health hospital conducted a process reengineering for the pre admission process of the admission preparation center by applying the combined process analysis and failure mode and effects analysis, high-risk points of the hospitalization process were screened, the job value and job functions of each sector were sorted out, and the sector for improvement sector was evaluated, to launch an independent information system, establish a one click automatic import of pre hospital medical orders function, and remove on-site billing physicians from various specialties for improvement measures. The steps of the process had been optimized, inlcuding issuing pre hospital medical orders, waiting for pre-hospitalization, pre-hospitalization, and so on. The completeness rate of pre hospital medical orders, average waiting days before hospitalization, and patient satisfaction scores of pre hospitalization centers had changed from 91%, 2.99 days, and 93.46 points before process reengineering to 92%, 2.44 days, and 95.80 points after reengineering, respectively. This practice had achieved dual improvements in pre admission service quality and efficiency, so as to provide a reference for China′s medical institutions to carry out safe and efficient pre admission services.

Objective:To compare the clinical effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and sodium hyaluronate on rotator cuff injury.Methods:From February 2022 to December 2022, 226 patients with rotator cuff injury caused by military training were treated at Department of Orthopaedics, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University. They were all male, aged (24.5±3.7) years, and their time from injury to treatment was (4.6±2.2) months. They were divided into 2 even groups according to different treatments: an observation group of 113 cases into whose subacromial space PRP was injected, and a control group of 113 cases into whose subacromial space sodium hyaluronate was injected. In both groups, the injection was performed once a week for consecutive 3 weeks. The 2 groups were compared in terms of visual analogue scale (VAS) and Constant-Murley shoulder function scale (CMS) before treatment and 4 and 8 weeks after treatment, and the levels of TNF- α and IL-6 in the shoulder synovial fluid before treatment and 8 weeks after treatment. Results:There was no statistical difference between the 2 groups in general clinical data before treatment, indicating comparability ( P>0.05). At 4 and 8 weeks after treatment, compared with the pre-treatment values, the VAS scores were significantly decreased and the Constant-Murley scores significantly increased in both groups ( P<0.001). At 4 and 8 weeks after treatment, the VAS scores in the observation group (3.1±0.9 and 1.5±0.5) were significantly lower than those in the control group (3.7±0.8 and 2.3±0.6) while the Constant-Murley scores in the observation group (58.6±4.5 and 72.2±4.1) significantly higher than those in the control group (55.2±5.3 and 67.8±5.0) ( P<0.001). At 8 weeks after treatment, the levels of TNF- α and IL-6 in the 2 groups were significantly lower than the levels before treatment ( P<0.001). At 8 weeks after treatment, the levels of TNF- α and IL-6 in the observation group [(2.9±0.9) μg/L and (0.8±0.2) μg/L] were significantly lower than those in the control group [(4.0±0.4) μg/L and (1.1±0.4) μg/L] ( P<0.001). Conclusion:Injection of PRP or sodium hyaluronate can relieve pain and improve shoulder function obviously in patients with rotator cuff injury, but PRP is superior to sodium hyaluronate in the treatment of rotator cuff injury.

Optimizing pre-hospitalized services is a powerful measure for hospitals to improve patient experience. In June 2022, a certain maternal and child health hospital had carried out a value chain management for pre-hospitalized patient communication based on patient needs. The Kano model and value chain theory were used to analyze the patient demand attributes, clarify the value-added activities of pre-hospitalized patient communication value chain, and implement value-added activities, including carrying out the GLTC doctor-patient communication model, optimizing the information management system of the admission preparation center, establishing a hospital preparation group management platform, and introducing the " Zhejiang Nursing" platform, to achieve the added value of key value chains in patient communication, improve the quality of pre-hospitalized services, and improve patient experience. After one year of practice, the pre-hospitalized patient management indexes, including the unregistration rate after issuing the hospitalization certificate, the cancellation rate after registration, and the average length of stay had decreased from 9%, 3%, and 4.65 days before practice (June 2021 to May 2022) to 6%, 1%, and 4.13 days after practice (June 2022 to May 2023), respectively. As well as the timely completion rate of pre-hospital inspection and the average satisfaction rate of pre-hospitalized patients had increased from 93% and 94% to 98% and 97%, respectively. The practice had achieved good application effects, so as to provide references for improving the level of pre-hospitalized services and improving the patient experiences in medical institutions in our country.

AIM: To analyze the chemical ingredients of Qingxin-zishen prescription decoction (QZPD) and predict its main pharmacodynamic substances and mechanism in the prevention and treatment of menopause syndrome (MPS) with the help of high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-TOF/MS) combined with network pharmacology. METHODS: The chemical ingredients of QZPD were identified after analyzing the retention time, exact mass, secondary mass spectrometry fragmentation and other information obtained from HPLC-Q-TOF/MS and comparing them with the established chemical ingredients database and the literatures. The targets of ingredients in QZPD were predicted by Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) and SwissTargetPrediction database. The disease targets of MPS were obtained through Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and GeneCards Database. Gene ontology (GO) function enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of potential targets were analyzed with the Metascape database. Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to construct the network of active components-key targets-pathways. AutoDockTools 4.2.5 software was applied in the molecular docking verification between the key active components and key targets. RESULTS: A total of 83 components were identified in QZPD and 847 drug targets were predicted. After intersection them with 3 050 disease targets, 395 common targets were obtained. After network topology analysis, 74 key targets were obtained, involving mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and other signaling pathways. Molecular docking analysis results indicated that 23 key active components, such as berberine, epiberberine, coptisine, geissoschizine methyl ether, liensinine, norcoclaurine, palmatine, quercetin, and luteolin, had good binding activity with several of the key targets. CONCLUSION: This study preliminarily identifies the potential effective chemical ingredients of QZPD, predicts its targets in the prevention and treatment of MPS, which provides supporting information for the further study of the pharmacodynamic substances and mechanisms of QZPD.

Ex vivo-expanded mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)have been demonstrated to be a heterogeneous mixture of cells exhibiting varying proliferative,multipotential,and immunomodu-latory capacities.However,the exact characteristics of MSCs remain largely unknown.By single-cell RNA sequencing of 61,296 MSCs derived from bone marrow and Wharton's jelly,we revealed five distinct subpopulations.The developmental trajectory of these five MSC subpopulations was mapped,revealing a differentiation path from stem-like active proliferative cells(APCs)to multipotent progenitor cells,followed by branching into two paths:1)unipotent preadipocytes or 2)bipotent prechondro-osteoblasts that were subsequently differentiated into unipotent prechondro-cytes.The stem-like APCs,expressing the perivascular mesodermal progenitor markers CSPG4/MCAM/NES,uniquely exhibited strong proliferation and stemness signatures.Remarkably,the prechondrocyte subpopulation specifically expressed immunomodulatory genes and was able to sup-press activated CD3+T cell proliferation in vitro,supporting the role of this population in immunoregulation.In summary,our analysis mapped the heterogeneous subpopulations of MSCs and identified two subpopulations with potential functions in self-renewal and immunoregulation.Our findings advance the definition of MSCs by identifying the specific functions of their heteroge-neous cellular composition,allowing for more specific and effective MSC application through the purification of their functional subpopulations.

Bcr-Abl threonine 315 to isoleucine 315 (T315I) gatekeeper mutation induced drug resistance remains an unmet clinical challenge for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Chemical degradation of Bcr-Abl